FREEHOLD – A Colts Neck man has been arrested and charged with committing a series of three bank robberies in various local municipalities over the course of a little more than a month, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced Monday.
Conor Kavanagh, 29, is charged with three counts of first-degree Armed Robbery.
An investigation was initiated immediately after the first bank robbery, which took place shortly after 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, November 13 at the PNC Bank inside the Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 36 in Keyport. At that time, a man later identified as Kavanagh approached a teller window, passed over a note indicating he was in possession of a weapon, and made off with a quantity of cash, leaving the scene in a green Toyota pickup truck.
At approximately 4 p.m. on Tuesday, December 14, a bank robbery occurred at the Wells Fargo branch on Newman Springs Road in the Lincroft section of Middletown. The bank robbery was committed in identical fashion to the earlier one in Keyport, with the suspect wearing similar clothing, and he left the scene in a green Toyota pickup truck.
Three days later, on Friday, December 17, the Wells Fargo branch on Route 36 in Eatontown was robbed. Again, a suspect passed a note demanding money, indicating that he was in possession of a weapon.
Following the bank robbery in Middletown, Detectives from the Middletown Police Department developed information that led to Kavanagh being identified as a potential suspect. After the bank robbery in Eatontown, Middletown Detectives and assisting members of the FBI observed Kavanagh driving a green pickup truck that matched the description of the vehicle used in the earlier bank robberies, and placed him under arrest for unrelated charges.
Detectives searched the pickup truck and located proceeds from the Eatontown bank robbery and the clothing the suspect was seen wearing on surveillance footage. They also located information pertaining to a storage unit in Shrewsbury, and a search of that location revealed proceeds from the Keyport and Middletown bank robberies.
Additionally, a search of the cell phone Kavanagh was using contained evidence of online searches for local bank branches.
Kavanagh was lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) pending a first appearance and detention hearing, to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court.
The Prosecutor’s Office would like to thank its partners with the Eatontown, Keyport, and Middletown police departments, as well as members of the FBI’s Newark office, for their invaluable assistance in this investigation.
This case is being prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Dugan. Information regarding Kavanagh’s legal representation was not immediately available.
Convictions on first-degree criminal charges are commonly punishable by terms of 10 to 20 years in state prison.
Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.